Legion of Kid Superheroes
by DryadPrincess
Summary: Drazeel just wanted to join her favorite superhero team, The Legion of Superheroes. When she's rejected for being too young, she runs off and finds herself being offered membership in a brand new team. But is it a team of young superheroes...or supervillains?


LEGION OF KID SUPERHEROES

Chapter One

"Rejected!"

Drazeel Lelonara looked around with big eyes at everyone around her. All her favorite superheroes were here at the recruitment stand! Over there, Chameleon Boy seemed in deep conversation with Brainiac 5. Over there, Lightning Lad, Light Lass, and Cosmic Boy were laughing about something. On a bench near a tree she could see Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, and had to put her hand over her mouth to keep from giggling because they were holding hands. And directly ahead of her, talking to Saturn Girl, were the greatest heroes of all: Superboy and Supergirl! She was so excited it was a good thing she'd gone before she came here or she'd probably wet herself in front of all of them and just die!

Drazeel looked down at her own costume, which she had made herself. Red shirt with yellow flower on the front, pink mask, cape, and belt, black skirt, yellow boots. The shirt was just a t-shirt, the mask she'd made by cutting up an old dress of hers that her mom had tossed into their trash can at home, and the cape had been part of a curtain. She watched as the Legion members called for the new recruits to line up and show what they could do. Drazeel felt butterflies buzzing around in her tummy. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Her costume looked so childish and amateurish next to the other recruits, not to mention the professional costumes the Legion wore. She hugged her purple dragon plush toy, embarrassed she'd brought such a childish thing with her to meet all these famous heroes, but too nervous to be without her oldest and dearest friend. She couldn't even remember when her parents had given it to her. Besides, looking at it helped her to focus her powers. Her planet, Tirzaz, had once been the home of fire-breathing dragons, although they had become extinct millions of years ago. Drazeel's people looked mostly like Earthlings, except violet, yellow, and orange eyes were often seen on Tirzal, blue, green, and purple hair were common, and skin color included all Earthling skin tones but also various shades of red, pink, orange, and yellow and everything in between. Drazeel's own eyes were orange, her hair was green, worn in two pigtails that reached to the bottoms of her shoulder blades, and her skin was a rosy pinkish-red, darker pink than her mask, cape, or belt.

"First recruit, step forward and identify yourself!" Lightning Lad called.

A boy in a blue and green costume stepped forward. "Hey," he said. "I call myself Typhoon Boy!"

"Well, Typhoon Boy," Superboy said, "let's see what you can do."

Typhoon Boy took a deep breath. Then he kept taking it. He started to blow up like a balloon.

"Uh, if you're going to start bouncing around the place, I really don't think the Legion needs two members with that power," Bouncing Boy said.

In answer, Typhoon Boy finally blew out. And kept blowing. And blowing. The wind knocked everybody except Superboy and Supergirl over. Drazeel squealed as the wind blew her along the ground, rolling like a tumbleweed. And she and everyone else were being drenched by the water spraying from his mouth as he continued to blow.

"That's enough!" Saturn Girl cried. "Stop the demonstration!"

Typhoon Boy finally stopped. "Impressive, isn't it?" he asked.

"Your power is certainly interesting," Brainiac 5 said kindly, "but powers need to be completely controlled, and your power drenched everyone here and almost blew away that poor little girl."

Drazeel realized he was talking about her. She was both thrilled such a famous hero had noticed her and embarrassed because he'd just called her a "poor little girl." Darn it! She hadn't even tried out yet, and already the Legion was looking at her in pity like a dumb little kid!

Typhoon Boy left, looking very annoyed that he hadn't been accepted. Drazeel brushed the grass off her costume, straightened her skirt, and tried to fix her hair, which had partly come out of one of her pigtails. He should have called himself Big Bag of Wind Boy!

The next applicant was a woman in a short red and yellow tie-died dress. "Hi!" she said, grinning and showing perfect teeth, making Drazeel very subconscious about her braces and prominent front teeth. "I'm Musical Girl! I can make any kind of music play from nowhere!" She danced and dance music played. She marched and a march played. She dropped to her knees and scary music played. "I can also do sound effects! Watch this!" She stuck out her index fingers and bent her other fingers to look like guns and pointed them at a tree. Bang! Bang! She held her arms out to her sides. They could hear an airplane overhead. She clapped her hands. Thunder boomed.

"Uh…that's a charming power," Supergirl said. "But I'm afraid it wouldn't be very useful in combat very often."

"And if it started playing at the wrong time," Superboy added, "it could give away your position to the enemy."

"Sorry, Musical Girl," Saturn Girl said. "But we'll be sure to invite you to our parties. Next please!"

The next applicant came forward in a wheelchair. He had a huge brain with tiny little arms and legs. "Greetings," he said, looking at Brainiac-5. "I am Genius Lad! I have an intelligence quotient of 400 and possess many psychic abilities." Suddenly his lips stopped moving, but Drazeel could still hear him talking inside of her head. "Telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, and other powers!" He rose up off his chair. Suddenly he was gone! Then he floated down from high overhead and landed back in his chair. "Unfortunately my physical limbs are small and weak, but as you can see I have no need for them."

"Fascinating," Brainiac-5 said. "However that would mean if your powers ever failed you, you wouldn't even be able to run away from danger. Of course that problem could be fixed with a Legion flight ring. Perhaps you would be willing to be a reserve, called upon when your special skills were needed. Please remain until after the tryouts are over. I'd like to discuss the matter with you further."

The wheelchair floated away, Genius Lad not looking at all happy. Drazeel shivered. That giant head on that skinny little body looked kind of creepy to her.

A furry girl with cat eyes, ears, fangs, hands, feet, and tail leaped in front of the Legionaries. "I'm Feline Lass! I can climb trees, walls, just about anything except glass or ice, leap high in the air, and my claws can shred just about anything except metal!" She sprang high into the air and did cartwheels, finally stopping by doing the splits.

"Those powers would be fine on an Earth-like planet," Duo-Damsel said, "but a lot of Legion missions take place in outer space or on planets with hostile environments, and your claws wouldn't be very useful inside of gloves or boots."

Drazeel gulped, wondering if she should have tried to go to the bathroom again while waiting for the others to try out. She was next after the person stepping forward right now.

He was really tall, at least eight feet, and skinny. "Hello, folks," he said. "I'm Beanpole Lad! I can stretch my limbs to great lengths!" He stretched his arms and legs, getting taller and taller. "I can also squeeze into just about anything and go almost anywhere!"

"Since Colossal Boy isn't here today," Chameleon Lad said, "I'll take this one. There are certainly occasions in which your powers will be useful, but you don't seem to have any offensive abilities, and that can be a liability in combat, since your friends would have to cover for you while you use your powers, and because of what those powers are there would be times when no one would be able to reach you to help you out."

Drazeel noticed her knees were knocking together and made them stop. The butterflies in her stomach felt more like bats now. She'd sneak away and not try out, but she suddenly realized it was too late to leave unnoticed. She was next. She felt her face blush as she noticed every eye was now on her. She gulped and stepped forward. "H-hello," she said, her voice coming out real froggy. She cleared her throat. "Um, my name is…is…"

"How old are you, honey?" Saturn Girl asked.

"Huh?" she said. "Oh, um…well, I'll be…ten soon, and…"

"I'm sorry," Saturn Girl said. "But the Legion only accepts teenagers. Come back when you're thirteen."

Drazeel pouted. "B-but…I haven't even showed you what I can do yet!"

"You can show us if you want to," Supergirl said, "but we can't consider you for membership at this time. Sorry."

Drazeel felt like such an idiot. She'd known the Legion was for teenagers, but she'd practiced so long and hard with her powers and was so proud of what she could do with them, it just didn't seem fair that they wouldn't even consider her because of her age!

"Never mind," she said, turning around. She sobbed and started running.

"Little girl!" Supergirl cried. "Come back and let's talk about it! Three years isn't such a long time, and I'd love to see what you can do! Little girl!"

But Drazeel didn't answer. Didn't look back. She just wanted to get out of there and hope the embarrassment went away eventually. At least she hadn't given them her name so they wouldn't be able to find her. Unless Saturn Girl read her mind. Oh no! She tried desperately not to think of who she was. This of course made her keep thinking about who she was.

Up ahead, Drazeel saw a tent. She hadn't noticed it before, but then she'd been so nervous going to see the Legion that she'd nearly walked into a trash can earlier. As she started to pass it, a hand came out and a soft voice hissed, "Little girl? Would you really like to join a hero team?"

Drazeel looked away as she rubbed at her eyes. Whoever it was, she didn't want them to see her cry. "Never mind," she said sadly. "It was a stupid idea!"

"Is it?" the voice asked. "Do you think it's fair the Legion said you couldn't join them without even knowing what you can do?"

"N-no," Drazeel admitted. "It wasn't fair! I practiced so hard to get good at my powers too!"

"Do you think you're the only one that would like to join the Legion but has been rejected for such a silly reason?" the voice continued.

"I don't know," Drazeel said. "Why? What difference does it make? If they don't want me then they don't want me!"

"Then why not prove them wrong?" the voice said coaxingly.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Drazeel asked, rubbing at the other eye.

"Why should there only be one group of heroes?" the voice demanded. "Look at all of the heroes they rejected before they came to you. They intend to only recruit one. Do you honestly think they haven't already decided who that will be?"

"Y-you mean the contest might be fixed?" Drazeel asked. That had never once occurred to her. She shook her head. "No," she said. "They're good guys. They wouldn't be so mean!"

"Then why did they make you cry?" the voice asked, the hand reaching slowly towards her.

"They…I don't know," Drazeel said. She had moved closer to the tent. The fingers of the hand touched her cheek.

"Do you truly wish to belong to a team?" the voice coaxed her.

"Y-yes, I do," Drazeel said. She clenched her little fists. "More than anything else in the whole wide world or all the worlds in the whole wide galaxy!"

"Then take my hand," the voice said, the hand reaching for hers. "And you shall!"

And without really thinking about it, Drazeel reached out and took the stranger's hand. Suddenly everything began to spin. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. Drazeel opened her mouth to scream but everything suddenly went black.

To be continued!

Oh no! What kind of trouble has Drazeel gotten herself into? Who's the mysterious stranger, and what plans do this being have for her? Find out next time!


End file.
